DIPTEROLOGY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 11 



dragonflies, in Science Gas-vp. In 1900 appeared the best and most 

 complete work which we possess on the general subject, JhitisJi Drat/on- 

 jJies [(hhmata), by W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S., illustrated with coloured 

 plates and black and white drawings (Upcott Gill). 20 genera, and 39 

 species are here described and figured, and 7 (or rather 9) species are 

 relegated to the reputed British list. It is hardly likely that our meagre 

 list of British dragonflies will suffer any further shrinkage ; in fact we 

 believe that one or two of Mr. Lucas' " reputed " species have already 

 been reinstated since the publication of his book. 



Works on American Odonata. — In 18G1 Dr. H. A. Hagen's Sijuopsisi 

 of the Xeuroptera <if North America, irith a //.s< of the South American 

 sjieciex, was published as a volume of the Smithsonian IMiscellaneous 

 Collections. A later synopsis of the odonata of America, by Hagen 

 (except the A;/rionidae) will be found in the ProceediwjH of the Jynston 

 Societi/ of Xatiiral History, vol. xviii (1875). Much has been done by 

 Hagen, Scudder, Cabot, and Calvert to elucidate the North American 

 odonatid fauna, but their work is much scattered. Students who need 

 information on the odonata of any extra-European country, will 

 probably find references to all that they require in my Catalogue of 

 1890, supplemented by the later volumes of the Zoolor/ical liecord. 



While this paper has been passing through the press, I have 

 received notice of the death of the venerable Baron Michel Edmond 

 de Selys-Longchamps, who was born at Paris on the 25th of May, 1813, 

 and died at Liege on the 11th of December, 1900, thus completing his 

 long and useful life within the century. There is no need to do more 

 than to allude to the value of his entomological works, which those 

 who have had occasion to consult them Avill fully appreciate ; but 

 apart from this, we are sure that all who have had the honour of his 

 personal acquaintance, however slightly, must have felt the charm of 

 his extreme courtesy and kindness, and will desire to record their 

 sincere sympathy with his surviving relatives in the loss which they 

 have sustained. 



Dipterology of the Nineteenth Century. 



By G. H. VERRALL, President Ent. Soc. London. 



Dipterology as a science can hardly be said to have existed until 

 the publication in 1818, of the first volume of Meigen's " Si/steiiiatische 

 lleschreiltiuu/ der befaiuiten Euroiiiiisehen zireij1i}i/eli(/en Insehten." Of 

 course there were describers of diptera in the eighteenth century such 

 as Linne, De Geer, Geoft'roy, Fabricius, Miiller, &c., but all their 

 attempts to arrange the species scientifically were most empirical. 

 With the beginning of the nineteenth century, Latreillc began to 

 indicate families, while Meigen indicated genera, but practically all 

 this work was tentative and ought to be treated as tentative and not 

 serious scientific work. 



In 1810, Fallen published a small pamphlet of 2G pages in which 

 he much more clearly indicated the families of diptera, and then by 

 his J >iptera Siieeica, which consisted of a series of pamphlets on separate 

 families, the lines were founded upon which subsequent authors could 

 build. Meigen's classic work mentioned above appeared in f.even volumes 

 (1818-1838) and dealt systematically with the whole of the known 

 European diptera, and the lines laid down by him have never been 

 seriously diverged from, although of course modifications have occurred. 



